Autographic register.



No. 639,635. Q Patented Dec. I9, 1899.

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WALES E. VAN AME, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

AUTQGRAPHIC REGISTER.

S PECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 639,635, dated December 19, 1899.

Application filed February 9, 1899- Serial No. 705,045. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALES E. VAN AME, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Wayne, in the county of Allen, in the State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Autographic Registers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings,which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in autographic registers in which two records are made at one writingone for the customer and the other for the cashier or bookkeeper.

The principal objects of my present invention are to provide an improved autographic register specially, adapted for use by retail merchants and grocers for the now universal checking system of sales comprising in its construction the greatest degree of simplicity, lightness, compactness, and portability, so arranged as to be easily loaded and readily threaded, requiring neither a tearing-bar nor special tension mechanism nor other operative parts liable to get out of repair, and adapted to feed a manifolded or continuous folded sheet over and across a writing-tablet containing a fixed supply of sales-checks, the said manifolding sheet being wound or rolled up and remaining in the register until the close of each days transactions, when it is severed by the bookkeeper for the purpose of auditing and posting, while the customer gets the carbon copy instead of the original, as is usually the practice.

My improvement consists of a containing case or frame of any desired contour, preferably rectangular, and of any proper material possessing the requisite lightness and durability, preferably of wood or aluminium, having a closed chamber or receptacle for the manifolded supply-sheet from which it is fed, and provided with ahinged lid for said chamber, affording convenient access thereto, and a roller upon which the portion of said sheet containing a record of each days transactions is wound up and preserved until it is removed at the close of each day, and suitable mechanism for automatically preventing a retrograde movement of said roller when in use,

means for guiding said sheet in its passage- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invenlion, showing the relative arrangement of the various parts thereof with the manifolded sheet and the sales-checksin position thereon. Fig. 2 is a similar perspective of the same with the lid partly raised and broken away at several points to show various features of construction. Fig. 3 isa detail of the roller upon which the record manifolded sheet is wound and to which it is fed, showing the longitudinal slot therein and the operating-handle therefor. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of Fig. 1, showing the longitudinal partition.

ihe case 1, of any desired size, is preferably about six inches in width by about seven and one-half inches in length and about threefourths of an inch in depth or thickness and weighs but about seven ounces when loaded with two hundred folds of the manifolded sheet and fifty sales-checks, thereby making it conveniently portable when in use. The said case 1 is provided with a bottom 17, upright sides 2 and 2, and a hinged lid 3, having a suitable latch or catch 4, and when closed is preferably flush with the upper edge of the adjacent side 2. This lid 3 is so arranged as to leave a suitable space 3 between the edge thereof and the adjacent side 2 for the passage of the manifolded sheet. At a proper distance from said space and parallel therewith is rigidly mounted upon said lid a proper guide 5 for said sheet, preferably consisting of a horizontal wire, whose ends are fixed in said lid, as shown. The opposite sides 2 of said frame or casing at their forward end are provided with the integral upright lugs 65, having a suitable perforation, in which the opposite end of the shaft or roller 7 is'revolubly mounted. This shafthas upon one extended end a knob 8, which is grasped by the operator in rotating said shaft and has a longitudinal slot 18 to aid in securing the outer end of the manifolded sheet, as hereinafter described. This shaft is also provided upon one end and adjacent to the inner face of the corresponding lug 6 with a fixed ratchet-wheel 9, adapted for a holding engagement with a proper pivotal pawl or dog 10. In close proximity to the forward edge of said lid 3 is arranged a transverse rod 11, whose opposite ends are fixed in the said lugs 6, leaving a small space between it and the said lid for the passage of the manifolded sheet 12 as it is wound upon the said roller 7, thereby forming a suiiicient tension to keep the sheet taut. The said case 1 is also preferably provided with a partition 20, arranged longitudinally of said sheet 12, which serves to keep the folds of'said sheet in alinement. The said lid 3 serves as a writing-tablet of greater width than the said manifolded sheet 12 to support the projecting or extended end of the sales-checks 13, which are secured in position upon the said lid by means of any suitable fastening at the end thereof adjacent to the latch 4, preferably by means of a wire 14, whose bent ends pass through and are secured in said lid, thus making the sales-checks conveniently detachable, as they may be readily torn oif from said wire fastener. Upon the extended end of said checks is arranged any desired advertising matter, as that of the firm employing my improvement. Upon the said wire fastener 14: is loosely mounted a thin light plate 15, preferably of aluminium or other sheet metal, for the purpose of sepa rating the underlying sales-checks from the overlying carbon-sheet '16, which is also secured in position upon said wire fastener 14:.

The manner of employing my improvement thus described is substantially as follows: The manifolded sheet 12, which is preferably ledger-ruled to permit the proper entry of debits and credits in the days transactions, thereby greatly facilitating the auditing and posting, is placed in the case 1, as shown. The upper free end of said sheet is passed or threaded upward through the said space 3,

then through the said guide 5 over and directly above the said carbon-sheet 16 and the sales-checks,then beneath the said rod 11,then over the said shaft or roller 7, to which it is readily secured by passing it through the said slot 18, and then giving it a turn or two upon the roller. The sales-checks and the carbonsheet are of course previously placed in position upon the lid 3. As fast as the transactions of the day are entered upon the said sheet by the sales person it is rolled upon the said roller, where it is securely preserved until the close of the days business, when it is torn off by the auditor or bookkeeper by simply passing the point of his pencil transversely of the apparatus through the contracted space between the said rod 11 and the adjacent edge of the said lid 3. The record thus made is readily unrolled and removed from the said roller by disengaging the ratchet mechanism. The entire record of the days transaction of each sales person is thus preserved upon a single sheet, and the salesman is thus relieved of the duty of auditing the accounts The record of each transaction will of course be copied at each writing by the said carbonsheet upon one of the said sales-checks, which is then given to the purchaser. By this means the customer gets the duplicate, while the original remains in the receptacle for the auditor. No special tension devices are needed in my improvement, as the slight friction in the space 3 and by the rod 11 is sufficient to keep the sheet perfectly taut when in use. The said ratchet-wheel, with its holding pawl or dog, prevents any retrograde movement of said sheet in use.

My invention thus constructed in very cheap, neat, simple, portable, and convenient,with no operating mechanism having any liability to get out of repair, and conveniently summarizes the entire record of a days business of each salesman upon one sheet and furnishes the identity of the record of each and every salesman.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The combination in an autographic register of acasing 1 havinga hinged lid thereforprovided at its rear end with a slit or space for the passage of the record-sheet; a guide for said sheet fixed upon said lid in close proximity to said space; a roller revolubly mounted in said casin g as shown upon which the rec ordsheet is wound, and provided with a holding mechanism; a transverse rod fixed in said casing in close proximity to said roller for the purpose specified; a manifolded sheet arranged in said casing having its outer end se cured in said roller, and adapted to be led or fed over said lid as described; a series of saleschecks arranged upon said lid beneath said sheet; and means for makinga duplicate copy of the entries upon said sheet.

Signed by me at Fort Wayne, Allen county, State of Indiana, this 4th day of February, A. D. 1899.

\VALES E. VAN AME.

Witnesses:

ADELAIDE KEARNS, AUGUSTA VIBERG.

ICC 

